


Day of Rest

by Em_313



Series: Daisy [6]
Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Canon Era, Children, Domestic Fluff, Gen, Jack is a good dad, One Shot, Post-Canon, Toddlers, parenting, toddler antics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-08
Updated: 2018-11-08
Packaged: 2019-08-20 17:07:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16559810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Em_313/pseuds/Em_313
Summary: Katherine needs a break.  Jack raised dozens of homeless newsboys when he was just a kid himself, so surely he can handle a day with his own daughter. After all, how hard can a 2-year-old be?





	Day of Rest

**April 1905**

 

Daisy, who’d just turned two, insisted her toast be cut in triangles, and Katherine picked her battles.

“Here, baby.” Kat handed her daughter a plate of triangle toast and some fruit.

“Twi-guhs.” Daisy said, pointing at her plate.

Katherine nodded. “Eat your breakfast.” She returned to the stove, poured two cups of steaming coffee, and leaned against the counter.

Jack waltzed in with his red sketchbook tucked under his arm. “G’morning ladies.” he said. He ruffled Daisy’s curls.

“You’re cheery.” Kat said flatly. She handed him his coffee.

“Got some good plannin’ done.” he said. Jack didn’t sleep much. He claimed he did his best drawings late at night and at sunrise.

“Good.” Katherine yawned. “I haven’t even packed your lunch yet.” She said. “I’m sorry.”

Jack took a long drink of his coffee. “Ya a’right?”

“I slept fine, but I’m so drained.” All her senses felt dulled and foggy. Jack stepped behind her and began rubbing her shoulders.

“Oh, that’s nice.” She sighed.

“Ya gettin’ sick or somethin’?” He asked. It’d been a few days since she’d felt like herself.

“No. I don’t feel sick, really. Just tired.” Katherine leaned back and rested her head against his chest.

“Take it easy today, a’right?”

Kat chuckled and reached for her coffee cup. “We have a two-year-old, Jack.” She said. “Maybe you’ve met her? Daisy? Knee-high firecracker?”

“Want me to stay home?” He asked.

“No reason to.” Katherine took a sip of her coffee. “I’m not sick.”

“Still.” He said. He reached across the counter and rested his hand on hers. “You deserve a break, Kitten. If you’re not sick, you get some relaxin’. And if ya are comin’ down with somthin’, maybe ya can ward off the worst of it.”

She sighed. With a toddler in the house, their little family had spent most of the winter sick with one thing or another. “I appreciate it.” She said.

“I gotta go in for an hour, two tops, but I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Katherine gave him a quick kiss. “Don’t rush for me. We’ll be fine.”

 

As promised, Jack was home midmorning. Kat’s coffee had settled like a rock in her empty stomach and she locked herself in the bedroom as soon as Jack walked in the door.

Daisy wrapped her arms around her father’s leg. “Daddy!” she sang. “Daddy, daddy, daddy!” He thumped to the dining room with her on his foot.

“Daddy needs to draw for just a little longer, _a storin_. I’ve got to get my final copy back to the editor by four, and then we can play.” He set his satchel on the table and scooped her up. “Let’s find you something to do, hmm?” They set off to the nursery for toys.

She scrambled from Jack’s arms and towards her shelf of toys. Her wooden Noah’s Ark clattered to the floor in her chubby toddler hands. Daisy held up a lion. “Roar!” she said.

Jack righted the shipwrecked ark and shoved a pair of goats and some colorful birds back inside. Why did Kat’s family always buy toys that had so many damn pieces?

“Let’s go back to the dining room, a’right, Daisy? So Daddy can draw at the table.”

Daisy tugged at his arm, looking for the tiger’s mate inside the ark. “Roar!” she repeated.

“C’mon, baby, Daddy has some work to do.” He reached for her hand.

“Noooo!” She shrieked.

“Shh!” Jack said. Katherine was asleep in their bedroom just ten steps away. “For Pete’s sake, kid. Fine.” He set the ark down and dashed back to the dining room for his satchel. Daisy had half the animals out by time he got back.

“Alright, Daisy.” He sat down on a foot stool and balanced his drawings in his lap. “I suppose I can work in here so ya can play.”

She toddled over and handed him a chewed-on horse. He set it on the rocking chair. “Let me get this final copy done, love, and then I will.”

He picked up his pen. The cartoon needed to be in ink before it went to the press. He still wasn’t satisfied with his caricature of President Roosevelt, even though he’d been tweaking it since the inauguration in January. It was difficult enough to capture his rescuer on the page. Now he had to display the grand, fragile potential of a brand new President to the world.

“Pwease.” Daisy said. She had big green eyes just like his.

He picked up the horse. “Roar!” He said. “Wait...horses don’t roar.” Daisy giggled. Kath would’ve called him a city boy.

Jack had half a zoo at his feet by time he’d finished outlining his cartoon. It still needed color.

“Eat?” Daisy said. “Eat?”

“You just ate.” He said. “You had breakfast like an hour ago and you’re hungry again?” She crawled over his satchel to his lap, crumpling a couple papers on her way.

“Careful kid.” He picked up his newly-finished cartoon so she wouldn’t smudge the ink.

“Daddy, eeeeat.” She repeated.

“Okay, well, c’mon then.” Jack held his drawing in one hand and scooped Daisy up with the other. He sat her in a kitchen chair and gave her a handful of crackers while he quickly added color to his cartoon.

He turned his paper around when he was finished. “What do you think, Daisy?” Her hair stuck up in all directions and there were as many crackers in her lap as in her stomach.

“No.” she said.

“Oh, c’mon, a storin, you don’t like it?”

“No!”

“Are you ready to go play more?”

“No no.” She said, and slid off of her chair back to the nursery.

Jack chuckled and followed her across the apartment. “Miss Daisy.” He sang.

“No!” She was dragging a teddy bear out of her toy box.

“ ‘ey Daisy, I’m gonna check on your mama, okay?” Jack said. She didn’t look up.

Jack pushed the bedroom door open. The room was dark. Kat faced away from him, but rolled over when she heard him come in. “‘Ey, Kitten, were you asleep?” He said.

“I just woke up.” She said. “Are you doing alright? Is Daisy being good?”

“She’s always good.” He said. “How are you feeling?”

“Okay.” She sat up a little. “I’m just so darn tired and sore. I’ll get up in a minute.”

“No.” He said. “Stay put. I’ve got this handled.” “Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure. She’s my kid too, ya know.” He said. “Do you need anything?”

“Maybe a bit more sleep.” She said. “And some water.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek and left to get her water.

He stuck his head in Daisy’s room. There was a trail of blankets and toys, but no Daisy. “Days?” Jack called out. It was too quiet. “Daisy, what ya up to?”

She was sitting on Katherine’s desk in the corner of the parlor, next to the typewriter. Her tiny hands were black up to her elbows. A tangled ink ribbon sat in her lap, smudging ink all over her blue dress.

“Hi!” she exclaimed.

“Oh hell, little girl! Did you break mama’s typewriter?” Jack took a few steps closer and inspected the damage. There was a pile of papers scattered across the floor, shoved away as Daisy climbed on top. Hopefully they weren’t important. A couple hammers looked out of whack; she’d probably slammed her whole hand on a row of keys. The ink ribbon was shot, but replaceable. He reached for it.

“No!” Daisy screamed. “Mine!”

“Daisy Ciara, mama’s typewriter isn’t a toy.” He said. “You shouldn’t had messed wit it.” He picked her up, as she shrieked and kicked and smudged ink all over both of them.

 

As an artist, Jack was used to his hands being stained in ink, pencil, and paint, but it wasn’t normal for a baby to walk around with grey hands. He gave her a bath, which she loved. When he tried to dress her in a clean diaper and dress, she ran away.

“Daisy! You gotta put some clothes on, little girl!”

She sat among her army of dolls and stuffed animals in her birthday suit and giggled. “No!”

“Yes!” he said.

“No!” She said, as he wrestled her into a diaper, trying not to stick her with the safety pin.

“Little girls wear clothes.” He said. He yanked a dress over her head.

“No!” she said. It took her three tries to get her arms in the sleeves.

“Yes!” Jack said, and pulled her into her lap, tickling her. She squealed with laughter. “Yes, yes, yes, you silly bug!”

“Daddy!” she screamed. Her flailing legs almost caught him in the chin.

“Careful, _a mhuirnin_.” He stopped tickling her, and she settled into his lap.

“Daddy.” She said. Jack kissed her damp hair.

“The sun is shining, love. What if we go for a walk to give your mama some peace?” He looked down. His shirt was covered in ink and bathwater. “I oughta change.”

He stood up with her on his hip--he didn’t trust her alone again--and tiptoed into their bedroom to grab a clean shirt.

“Mama!” Daisy said, squirming to climb onto the bed.

“Shh, baby.” Jack said. “Mama doesn’t feel good.”

“Come here, baby, I’m awake. I’m okay.” Kat said. She sat up, pushed the blankets down, and opened her arms. Daisy jumped from Jack’s arms onto the bed and scampered into her mother’s lap.

“We’re going on a walk to get outta your hair, Ace.” Jack said. “I just, uh, gotta change shirts real quick. We, um--we’re fine--but Daisy--”

“I heard.” Katherine said. Daisy fit perfectly in her lap. “You imp.” She said to Daisy.

Jack tossed his stained shirt into the laundry basket and pulled on a clean one. “You sound bettah.” he said to Katherine, as he fumbled with his buttons.

“Mmhmm.” She said. “I...I think I know why I haven’t been feeling well.” He sat down on the foot of the bed and looked around for his shoes. “I’m pregnant, Jack.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading this fluff! I've got a few of other bits floating around I hope to get out over the next couple weeks, including more with this now growing little family, and my version of how Medda and Jack met. Fun one shots make me feel like I've accomplished something :) Let me know what you think!


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